posted October 4, 2009
After being named to chair the Collegedale Tomorrow Advisory Board, it occurred to me that many of Collegedale’s citizens might have no idea what the board is. CTAB is an “advisory” board, it cannot enact legislation. CTAB can and will “suggest” new ordinances, zoning changes, zoning overlays to the City Commission, and be responsible for working on a “vision” for what Collegedale will look like in the future.
CTAB’s membership includes six members at large from the community, plus the mayor, the city manager, and the chairman of the Planning Commission.
I also thought that the citizens of Collegedale deserved to know who would be chairing CTAB. My name is David Barto. I live with my wife Leanne, and two daughters, Aurelia, and Arleigh on Asher Lane. I have either lived in Collegedale or right outside of it my entire life. I have a very small Landscaping business. I work with my hands all day every day. My wife is a teacher at the Apison Seventh-day Adventist School, but is currently fighting a battle with Stage 3 breast cancer, so she is not teaching. We live in a restored 90-year-old “antique” house. We love it, not just because it is cute, but because we put in hundreds of hours of “sweat equity”, thus the payment is reasonable.
Not being held down by an exuberant house payment has allowed us to travel extensively across the country, which is where my interest in city planning developed from. Out West we saw Wal-Marts that were actually pretty, streetscapes that “drew” people into the towns, and cities that “grew” but without the growing pains we see so much of in the South.
There is a wave of growth coming at Collegedale, both with VW, and Apison Pike becoming a five-lane road and thus opening the boundless acres of Apison to easy future development. One hundred fifty miles from here there is a city called Franklin. It’s citizens faced a similar wave 15 years ago, and they did not drown under it. They managed the growth, and today their city is a proud model that we can base our own growth after, and that is what CTAB will try to do.
“Am I the best person to lead CTAB?” My critics will be glad to tell you four things about me:
“He is a “college drop-out” (I had been running a small business since I was 12). His first business blew apart when he was 26 and he declared bankruptcy (What else can you do when someone doesn’t pay you $40,000 for a job already finished?). He has been known to be too harsh in politics (I admit I tend to hit back as hard as I am hit). He is not wealthy (I don’t care to be, we have a nice, comfortable life, and we travel).
To all of this all I can say is: I will try to do the best I can for my fellow citizens. I will depend on the wisdom and advice of my fellow CTAB members as we work to craft legislation to send to the City Commission.
CTAB is not about “David Barto” it is about the future of Collegedale, which is why the steering committee stressed “broad membership from across the community.” I hope that my “past failings” will not be a hindrance to my future work, but perhaps allow me a greater understanding of my fellow citizens.
Thank you for your time. I welcome each and every citizen's comments as we prepare for the bright tomorrow I know Collegedale has in store for each and every one of us.
David Barto
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